"Josh Hartnett: Student Body"
Three months after moving to Los Angeles, he got lucky... Well, he landed a role. The gig? Playing the rebellious son of a psychobabbling cop on the short-lived ABC drama Cracker. His first television scene? Talkin' on a cell phone while sittin' on the john. The second? Being bound and gagged.
And yet, in the crazy world called Hollywood, it was all just part of the 20-year-old's big break. The good news? He hasn't stopped working since. The bad? The roles haven't gotten any more highbrow.
Last summer, the Minneapolis native (sporting his trademark tousled hair) teamed with Dawson's Creek's Michelle Williams and original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis to have it out with famed slasher Michael Myers in Halloween: H20. This Christmas, he joins Elijah Wood and Usher in the ultimate battle between Buffy-speak-spouting high-schoolers and their evil alien teachers in The Faculty (penned by Scream's--and Dawson's--Kevin Williamson and directed by Robert Rodriguez). It's enough to make anyone wig out.
Which got us to wondering...
***Is He Sick of All the Running, Screaming and Bleeding?
"It hasn't been too bad. I mean, I don't think there are very many glamorous roles out there."
***Maybe Not, but Didn't His Role in The Faculty Come with a National Tommy Hilfiger Modeling Campaign?
"Yeah. That was, um, interesting. It's not really my thing."
***Did He Keep the Clothes? For sure.
"I kept a pair of leather pants. I didn't even know Tommy Hilfiger made leather pants. They're like rock 'n' roll pants. I've even worn them a couple of times."
***Was He Treated Like a Rock Star? Nope.
"The reaction was nil."
***Come On. He's a Teen Idol Now. Aren't the Girls Going Crazy?
"Not really. I mean, my little sister's friends want to sleep over more now, but..."
***But What?
"Well, there was that incident at Planet Hollywood. We were donating a jacket from The Faculty, and first they announced Usher--and these girls just started screaming. Then they announced me, and I figured they weren't even going to know who I was, but they went crazy, which was pretty cool. Of course, later on the same trip, we were somewhere else and the same thing happened when they announced Usher--but nobody said a word when I came out."
***Maybe That Messy Hair's Not for Everyone. Will He Ever Change It?
"In my next movie [Virgin Suicides], I wear hair extensions. At first they were, like, glued to my scalp. But they kept coming off in my sleep when I would roll over. I'd wake up with what looked like a squirrel on my chest, so after that we went for a wig."
***When Can We See Him Again, Coif and All? Josh is currently filming Town and Country with Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton.
"My character's like the emotional center of the film."
--Amanda Rudolph (E! Online www.eonline.com)
